By The Numbers: How Much Money College Sports Spend And Earn In Texas

Five stories that have North Texas talking: Compare the gains and losses among the state’s largest public university teams; San Antonio plans to solve lack of downtown restrooms with a $90K toilet; purchase a piece of history at a late congressman’s estate sale; and more.

College sports earn and spend millions of dollars each year, but how many of those colleges are making enough to cover the costs? And how do each of Texas’ major schools compare with one another? The Texas Tribune created a new web app using NCAA financial reports from the eight public Texas universities to answer those questions. Note: Private universities don’t have to make their reports public under open records laws.

According to The Tribune: “The eight public Texas universities that play in the Football Bowl Subdivision — the top level of college football — spent more than $525 million on athletics in the 2014-15 school year. Football is consistently the top revenue-producing sport, followed by men’s basketball.”

See the top spending and earning universities in the gallery above. Below is the general information you can find on the University of North Texas with the app:

Credit The Texas Tribune

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The Texas Tribune

You can go further into the school’s gains and losses by sport. The biggest loss for UNT last year was the football team, which earned $3,522,981 and spent $7,931,315, for a total loss of $4,408,334. All of UNT’s sports lost money, but the team that suffered the least was men’s golf. And overall, UNT’s men’s team lost almost $2 million more than women’s teams, but men’s teams made over eight times more money.Keep exploring the app. [The Texas Tribune]

• San Antonio is addressing the lack of public restrooms downtown with a $90,000 toilet. Downtown San Antonio only maintains six public restrooms downtown that are locked at different times for safety reasons, according to Texas Public Radio. For that reason, the city’s trying out The Portland Loo, a low-maintenance restroom about the size of a parking space. TPR reported: “But a single toilet at a cost of more than $90,000?  [Councilman Roberto] Trevino and [Councilman Mike] Gallagher defend the cost saying it will save the city money over time because it’s built to last longer than standard restrooms and because of low maintenance costs. And they hope it won’t be too long before there are enough public restrooms in San Antonio, so that when you gotta go, you’ll be able to.” Read more. [Texas Public Radio]

• An estate sale for former U.S. Congressman Jim Wright will take place this weekend. WFAA reported: “Wright, a former speaker of the house who served 14 terms in Congress, passed away last year at the age of 92. His wife, Betty, died a short time later. Their belongings, including more than 1,000 signed books, engraved glassware, mementos from Air Force One, and well-known paintings, all hit the selling block on Friday morning.” Read more from Fort Worth Star-Telegram about Wright and the special items you’ll find at the sale, including a program from the Nov. 22, 1963, Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce breakfast for President John F. Kennedy, just hours before he was assassinated in Dallas.” [WFAA, Fort Worth Star-Telegram]

• The Dallas Arboretum is on the shortlist for USA Today’s top 20 Best Botanical Gardens. The chance to vote for the Arboretum as the best botanical garden in the country ends March 28. Here’s where you can vote. If you don’t know the Arboretum, here’s a description from USA Today: “Occupying 66 acres of manicured grounds, the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden has offered its green lung to Dallas residents and visitors since it first opened in 1984. The space is divided into 19 named gardens, including the family-friendly Rory Meyers Children's Adventure Garden, Margaret Elisabeth Jonsson Color Garden and the iconic Crape Myrtle Allee.” Klyde Warren Park is also in the running for Best City Park. Vote here. [USA Today]

• Watch and listen to live shows from the SXSW Radio Day Stage. Our sister station, KXT 91.7 will air and host a live feed of all six shows starting at noon today. The lineup includes Jack Garratt at noon, Chvrches at 1 p.m., The Heavy at 2 p.m., Bombino at 3 p.m., Lucius at 4 p.m., and Hinds at 5 p.m. [KXT, VuHaus]